Boundary stone on Stanghow Moor

Exploring hob country, the area of moorland south-east of Guisborough.

This early 19th-century boundary stone marks an old parish boundary between Guisborough and Stanghow. It is about half way between Hob on the Hill and Hob Cross, which names denote a connection with those mischievious sprites that are supposedly the descendants of prehistoric inhabitants. The stone is inscribed “SK AWD 1814 TC 1856”¹North York Moors Historic Environment Record (HER) No: 17110.

Stanghow has been said to be one of the most ancient places in Cleveland²‘High Stanghow Prepares | Cleveland Standard | Friday 07 November 1952 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003490/19521107/081/0005> [accessed 1 February 2023], a place where the colonist farmers, craftsmen and traders met and integrated with the indigenous locals to discuss their shared concerns and settle disputes. The name Stanghow derives from Old Norse meaning ‘pole mound’³“The Vikings in Cleveland”. Edited by Heather O’Donoghue and Pragya Vohra. Page 22. First published in Great Britain by the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age, University of Nottingham, 2014. ISBN 9780853583011..

• 1
  North York Moors Historic Environment Record (HER) No: 17110
• 2
  ‘High Stanghow Prepares | Cleveland Standard | Friday 07 November 1952 | British Newspaper Archive’. 2023. Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk <https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003490/19521107/081/0005> [accessed 1 February 2023]
• 3
  “The Vikings in Cleveland”. Edited by Heather O’Donoghue and Pragya Vohra. Page 22. First published in Great Britain by the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age, University of Nottingham, 2014. ISBN 9780853583011.